"Not so bad as you intended."
Dr. Harpe laughed softly and asked with a mocking pretence of surprise—
"Why, what do you mean?"
"You know perfectly well that I know you tripped me. You need not pretend with me. Don't you think I know by this time that you would go to any length to injure me—in any way—that you already have done so?"
"You flatter me; you overestimate my power."
"Not at all. How can I when I see the evidence of it every day? You have left me practically without a friend; if that flatters you, enjoy it to the utmost." The girl's eyes filled with tears.
"Not without one," she sneered significantly; "surely you don't mean that?"
The peach-blow color rose in the girl's cheeks.
"No," she answered with a touch of defiance, "not without one, or two when it comes to that."
"And who is—the other?"